Professional gardener Angela Carcich can whip together a dish garden in five minutes.
You can, too.
The supplies to create a dish garden - a miniature landscape in a container - are relatively simple. You need a tabletop-type container, growing media and several small plants that like similar growing conditions.
Your container should have drainage holes, so plants don't sit in soggy soil; otherwise, use gravel in the bottom of the container for drainage and let plants dry out between watering.
"Dish gardens are really fun to make," says Carcich, assistant nursery manager at Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk, Va. "Cacti, herbs and small tropical plants can be used to make different kinds."
Here are three ideas for dish gardens you can make to give as gifts for schoolteachers, friends and family - or yourself. You can find the supplies at any garden center.
Kathy Van Mullekom writes for the (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press.
Herbal Helper
Materials
Strawberry pot-type herb container (strawberry pots have side holes for plants to grow out of); we used a blue-and-white one that professional gardener Angela Carcich found at a family member's house.
Potting soil
Assorted herbs in 2-inch pots ($2.69 each); we used two pineapple sage, variegated myrtle, rosemary, tricolor sage and chives.
Directions
Use planting media to fill the pot halfway.
Plant the side holes first, placing the root ball of the herb into the pot, then gently pulling its foliage through the side hole; we placed rosemary, chives and tricolor sage in the three side holes.
Plant two to three herbs in the top of the container; we placed variegated myrtle between two pineapple sage plants.
Cost
About $25
Tropical Touch
Materials
14-inch-diameter basket (4 inches deep with plastic liner to waterproof basket)
Gravel to create half-inch layer in plastic liner
Decorative moss
Six small tropical plants from a garden-center greenhouse; we used tricolor acalypha, mint rose variegated geranium, variegated hoya, philodendron, dracaena and Chinese evergreen, all in 4- to 6-inch pots ($2.69-$4.99).
Directions
Place the plastic liner in the basket and cover bottom of liner with about a half-inch of small gravel.
Use a potting media (Miracle-Gro Moisture Control works well because it contains Soil Moist capsules to help retain moisture between watering) to partially fill the liner.
